A Born Gossip Expert

After Bai Yao agreed to let the two brothers follow him, Xiang Qian and Xiang Hou immediately showed him their value on the road back.

From the two of them, Bai Yao heard plenty of gossip about the educated youth residence and the villagers.

Every single story showed just how good the two were at gathering information.

There was one family that looked harmonious on the surface, while behind the scenes, the daughter-in-law was egging her husband on to split off from the family.

There was a girl who had supposedly married into the city, but had actually been sold as a wife to a widower there.

And there was the village man who had secretly gone knocking on a widow's door.

Besides their own village, the two also knew some things about other villages.

In their words, they hadn't gone looking for any of this gossip. They had simply overheard other people talking.

It was as though the information had delivered itself right to them.

Bai Yao could only say that all these two lacked was a Gossip System.

If they had one, he felt the system would be overjoyed. After all, no matter how he looked at them, they were born gossip experts.

For now, though, he could stand in for the Gossip System.

"Keep an eye on what's happening at the educated youth residence. If anything entertaining happens, remember to tell me."

As he spoke, Bai Yao casually took two bottles of soda from the basket beside him and handed them over.

Xiang Qian took the soda and hurriedly agreed, delighted. "Don't worry. If anything happens at the educated youth residence, we'll definitely tell you right away."

With that, Xiang Qian bit the cap off a bottle and held it out for Xiang Hou to drink first, before drinking from it himself.

Bai Yao acknowledged him, then customized a bottle of iced soda for himself through the system.

One gulp, and the icy chill was utterly refreshing.

After that, none of the three spoke again. They had mostly talked too much on the way and were a little tired of it.

Things stayed that way until they reached the village entrance.

Sitting on the back of the bike, Bai Yao heard Xiang Qian say, "Brother Bai, Brother Wu is up ahead."

Bai Yao: ???

After a moment of confusion, he understood.

Brother Bai was him, and Brother Wu was probably Kong Wu.

Yes, Bai Yao confirmed it after turning his head to look.

As it happened, just as Bai Yao looked over, Kong Wu looked his way too.

With a single glance, Bai Yao thought Kong Wu looked just like a big wolfdog waiting for its owner to come home.

A big wolfdog in a somewhat bad mood, that was.

By then, Xiang Hou had stopped the bike and gotten off with Xiang Qian, and Kong Wu had taken over the handlebars.

"Brother Bai, we'll head back first," Xiang Qian said, quick to read the situation.

"Mm, go on. Remember, I only want chickens or rabbits," Bai Yao said.

He had given the hint twice now. It remained to be seen whether the brothers understood.

Seeing that Kong Wu wasn't planning to ride but was pushing him along instead, Bai Yao wanted to get off and walk with him.

But just as he moved, Kong Wu said in a gloomy voice, "You could sit there when someone else was riding, so why won't you sit when I'm pushing? Do you look down on me?!"

Hearing that, Bai Yao rolled his eyes right in front of Kong Wu and said, "I only wanted to get down because I thought it would be heavy for you to push with me sitting on it."

"And don't overthink it. I met those two in town. Riding back was too tiring, so I asked them for help," Bai Yao explained.

"Mm, you don't need to explain. I trust you," Kong Wu said, though his expression was no longer as cold as before.

Bai Yao gave a "heh" at that. If Kong Wu hadn't cared about it, would his face have been cold enough to scare a child into tears just now?

He had said he was going by himself, so he had gone by himself. He would never lie.

Then he reached out with his foot and kicked Kong Wu. "Get on and ride us home. This weather is hot enough to kill."

"Sure thing."

With that, Kong Wu got on and pedaled hard for home.

Feeling the wind against his face, Bai Yao was satisfied.

See? Compared with the twins, who had pedaled so hard only to crawl along, Kong Wu was what he called vigorous and powerful.

If there really was a matter of payment in the flesh, he would definitely have to find Kong Wu for it.

With Kong Wu pedaling powerfully, they covered the final stretch of road in no time.

After getting off the bike, Bai Yao said to Kong Wu, "Put away everything we bought. Put one of the watermelons in the well. We'll eat it after dinner, and it should be nice and cold by then."

"All right, leave it to me," Kong Wu said, easily carrying the two large baskets into the house, one in each hand.

Bai Yao: ...

It wasn't the first time he had seen that strength, but he still wanted to say it: he wasn't human.

After that, Bai Yao left him to it. He had to go to the toilet now.

He had chugged a whole bottle of iced soda earlier, and now his stomach and intestines were in revolt.

The revolt lasted half an hour before it finally ended. Afterward, Bai Yao walked toward the house with trembling legs, stopping every three steps.

It really was torture.

Still, the lesson taught him that no matter how hot the weather was, he couldn't chug a whole bottle of iced soda again.

By the time he made the arduous walk to the main room, his legs had recovered from the numbness of squatting. Then Bai Yao noticed that Kong Wu was cooking.

Bai Yao: ???

"What made you decide to cook today?" Bai Yao asked, puzzled.

"I saw the meat you bought. There's too much to finish, so I thought I'd braise it. I'm pretty good at braising meat. Didn't you try it on the train and say it was delicious? I'll make it for you again now," Kong Wu replied.

"All right, thanks for the effort," Bai Yao said. As things stood, he didn't feel like cooking anyway.

He went to the washbasin, wet a towel, and wiped off the sweat from the heat. Then he told Kong Wu and went back to his room.

As for the fact that he shouldn't eat greasy food after having diarrhea, he had forgotten it for the time being.

He lay down in his room, and before long, Bai Yao fell asleep.

Fortunately, Kong Wu was using the cooking pot on his side of the house. Otherwise, Bai Yao might have been woken up by the heat before long.

He had a good dream, and when he woke and opened his eyes, the sky had already darkened. But the light coming through the crack in the door told Bai Yao that Kong Wu hadn't gone to sleep yet.

He checked the time. It was already eight thirty at night, which was quite late.

Just then, someone knocked on the door, followed by Kong Wu's quiet voice.

"Bai Yao, are you awake? The braised meat is ready. We're just waiting for you."

Bai Yao was taken aback for a moment, then answered, "I'm awake. Coming."

As he answered, Bai Yao also got off the kang and went out.

The moment he opened the door, Bai Yao saw Kong Wu rise with a smile. But before Kong Wu could speak, a loud rumble came from his stomach.

At the sound, the smile froze on Kong Wu's face, while Bai Yao nearly burst out laughing.

Luckily, he held it in, though he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from rising.

"Don't tell me you haven't eaten and have been waiting for me this whole time?" Bai Yao asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Mm, the longer braised meat soaks, the more flavor it absorbs. It hasn't soaked for very long yet, but it should still taste good," Kong Wu said with great confidence.

"Then I'll have to give it a proper taste."